The smartwatch on your wrist may have given you a new level of convenience but it appears to do so at a cost. A new study by Hewlett-Packard’s HP Fortify security unit has found that all smartwatches come with significant security vulnerabilities, “including insufficient authentication, lack of encryption and privacy concerns.” HP tested 10 popular smartwatches along with their paired […]
Security
Google halts WebView patching on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean and older
Android Jelly Bean (4.1) was first announced at Google I/O on June 27, 2012. The first device to run Jelly Bean, the original Google Nexus 7, followed later that summer. Despite now being over two years old, Jelly Bean can still be found on 46% of Android devices. Given how prevalent it remains, one would assume that security updates for […]
BlackBerry acquires voice and data security firm Secusmart
A the BlackBerry Security Summit event taking place today BlackBerry announced it will acquire Secusmart GmbH, a German company that focuses on voice and data encryption and anti-eavesdropping solutions for government organizations, enterprises and telecommunications service providers. Already a BlackBerry partner, the company notably works with the German government and supplies Secusmart-equipped BlackBerry smartphones to almost all German government ministries and […]
Google Android enterprise security suite coming as Samsung drops Knox
A lot of eyebrows went up at Google I/O 2014 when Google announced that Samsung had turned over its Knox enterprise security suite in a bid to help improve the overall security of Android. It turns out that the move may have been an early sign that the company was getting out of the mobile security space. Forbes today reported that […]
Google to encrypt all Gmail messages starting today
Google today announced a number of measures to improve the security of its Gmail service. Gmail already offered supported for encrypted HTTPS connections as an optional setting. As of today, Google has made it the default. The move also ensures that emails will be encrypted as they move both between users and Gmail’s servers as well as between Google data […]
Google’s Sundar Pichai on Android malware and security
A lot of people wondered what Sundar Pichai, Google’s Senior Vice President of Chrome and Apps, was up to earlier this week when he reportedly said that Google could not guarantee that Android was safe because it had been “designed to give more freedom.” Needless to say, the comment made some waves. According to FrAndroid, Pichai said, “We cannot guarantee […]
WIND Mobile confirms participation in GSMA IMEI blacklist program
Shortly after the CWTA announced that its members had launched a national blacklist of lost and stolen wireless devices, WIND Mobile announced that its network is also now integrated with the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) database maintained by the GSMA. The principle is the same. WIND Mobile checks new subscription requests against the IMEI database and will not activate […]
National stolen wireless device blacklist launches in Canada
The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) and its wireless carrier members today announced that they have launched a national blacklist of lost and stolen wireless devices. Effective today, GSM, HSPA, HSPA+ or LTE wireless devices looking for authorization on a participating carrier’s network will have their IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number checked against the blacklist. Should the check return […]